President Obama to the American People: ‘Learn to Code’

In honor of Computer Science Education Week, President Barack Obama is asking everyone to learn code. The Hour of Code campaign, which kicks off the week, encourages newbies to pick up basic coding skills.

The self-directed tutorial at the Hour of Code site feels like a game, and is about as easy to do. But if basic coding looks like a fun time-waster, it’s anything but. In fact, it’s about the best thing you can do for your future.

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The number of coding jobs is set to increase by 30 percent by the year 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Computer programming jobs have a median income of over $55,000 annually. Coding skills are a good choice for anyone who wants to improve their employment outlook. But beyond that, having lots of code-adept workers will help keep computer science jobs in the country, which is good for the economy, and thus workers in all fields.

“Learning these skills isn’t just important for your future, it’s important for our country’s future,” says President Obama. “If we want America to stay on the cutting edge, we need young Americans like you to master the tools and technology that will change the way we do just about everything.”

The president goes on to say, “No one’s born a computer scientist, but with a little hard work — and some math and science — just about anyone can become one,” says Obama.

Watch the video below to see President Obama’s call to code:

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Jen Hubley Luckwaldt

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt writes about work-life balance, stress management, and other topics relating to what makes us happy at work. A full-time freelancer, she deals with stress by blurring the lines between life and work to the point where the two spheres are barely separate. The happiest day of her career was when scientists proved that looking at pictures of cute animals makes us more productive.